Electronic devices, for example, handheld electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets include a cover substrate, which is typically a glass substrate and is typically referred to as a cover glass. However, breakage of the cover glass of electronic devices is a persistent problem. The failure and breakage of cover glass can be attributed to flexural failure, caused by the bending of glass when the device is subjected to dynamic or static loading, as well as sharp contact failure, caused by damage introduction due to sharp indentation on the glass surface when the cover glass falls on a rough surface such as asphalt, concrete, etc.
Manufacturers of glass and electronic devices have researched improvements to provide resistance to and/or prevent sharp contact failure. Some proposed improvements include coatings on the cover glass and bezels that prevent the cover glass from contacting the ground directly when the device is dropped. However due to the constraints of aesthetic and functional requirements, it is very difficult to prevent completely the cover glass from contacting the ground when the device is dropped. Also, it has been shown that hard coatings on strong ion exchanged glass, which is used to make cover glass, can deteriorate its flexural strength performance. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide screen protectors and methods of protecting display screens of electronic devices to provide improved survivability of cover glass for these electronic devices.